Game machines, such as slot machines and poker game machines, that pay back tokens, such as coins, for winning game results have been very popular. Here, slot machines will be used as an example of a game machine.
Players start a game by pulling a start lever after putting a token in the slot machine. A plurality (three, for example) of reels with numerous types of symbols arranged on the circumference rotate at high speed in the slot machine, and the prize status is determined by the combination of the symbols on the reels displayed at a given location in a window when the reels have stopped. The number of tokens that are paid out is determined by the combination of symbols when the reels have stopped, that is, the prize status. When the current game prize status has been determined, the reels are rotated to begin the game.
Slot machine prizes typically include "Big Jackpots," where 1000 or more tokens, for example, are paid back, as well as "Small Jackpots," where less than 1000 tokens are paid back. A variety of other prizes also may be offered.
In most slot machines, the player can operate stop buttons provided in the slot machine to stop the reels, but in the type of slot machine in which the prize status is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game, the reels are not stopped immediately when the player actuates the stop buttons, but instead are stopped when the symbols on the reels reach the position corresponding to the prize status previously determined by random selection.
It is possible for too much time to pass after the player presses the stop buttons until the reels stop at the prize status that had been previously determined by random selection. This could lead to unnatural reel-stopping operations. In such cases, the reels may be stopped at a point that does not match the prize status previously determined by random selection. In other words, when too much time passes until the reels stop after the player has operated the stop bottons, leading to unnatural reel-stopping operations, the reels are stopped irrespective of the prize status previously determined by random selection. As a result, even when the prize status previously determined by random selection would have been, for example, a "Big Jackpot," the prize status may end up being a "Lose" due to the timing with which the player has actuated the stop buttons. Conversely, when the prize status previously determined by random selection would have been a "Lose," the prize status may end up being a "Big Jackpot" due to the circumstances under which the player actuated the stop buttons.
Slot machine prizes also may include a so-called "Second Game Win" result, where a second game can be played as a subsidiary game. This "Second Game Win" result is described below.
The game that results in the aforementioned "Big Jackpot," "Small Jackpot," or "Second Game Win" is referred to herein as the first game. When a "Second Game Win" is won in a first game, a second game can be played without new tokens being entered. The second game is played with an arrangement or a set of beginning reels that is different from the arrangement or set of the first game. Common examples are referred to as "Bonus" games or "Free" games. Such a second game is often advantageous for the player, allowing the player to win a prize that includes a large amount of tokens depending on the results of the second game. The player plays the slot machine in anticipation of increasing the number of tokens in possession, but since the number of tokens in the player's possession does not increase all that much with "Small Jackpots," the player plays the slot machine while hoping for a "Second Game Win" or a "Big Jackpot" that will quickly increase the number of tokens in the player's possession.
Frequently, the prize status in a slot machine is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game. In this type of slot machine, for example, the prize status is randomly selected when a token is put into the slot machine and the start lever is pulled, and the current game prize status is then determined. When the current game prize status has been determined, the reels are rotated to begin the game.
However, in the type of slot machine in which the prize status is determined by random selection using random numbers for each game, the prize status is randomly selected when a token has been put into the slot machine and the start lever has been pulled, so the prize status of the current game is already known when the reels begin to rotate. As described above, the player plays slot machines hoping for a "Second Game Win" or "Big Jackpot" to quickly increase the number of tokens in the player's possession, and when it is known that there is an extremely high possibility that the current game will result in a "Big Jackpot" or "Second Game Win" as a result of previous random selection (as described previously, there can be cases in which the prize status might end up as a "Lose" due to the timing with which the player actuates the stop buttons), it would be extremely significant to make a demonstration alerting the player to that fact.